The Permanent Future
by CelloNinjaAngel
Summary: Lily realized, the boy right in front of her was the one James Potter had come to see, and the reason she was in this mess as well. "Yes, yes. I'm the Boy Who Lived, the one who lived against Voldemort," the brown haired boy looked annoyed, not because he was cocky, but because he didn't like the attention, which was completely different from James, "My name is Harry Potter."
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: I've been mulling over this idea for a little bit, and FINALLY, I found the time to write it. Hope you guys enjoy, variations of this idea have been used a few times. Anyways, this story is dedicated to my two friends, Connor and Ali. **

**Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling owns HP.**

James Potter buried his face in his hands, heavily leaning on his two best friends, Remus Lupin and Sirius Black. The idea seemed so unreal, the fact that he was going to _die _soon. Peter just stood a little farther away from his friends, unsure of what to do.

_James stood outside of Dumbledore's office, waiting anxiously to be allowed access inside. Finally, the massive door creaked open, and the Headmaster stepped out. Albus Dumbledore's normally twinkling blue eyes were now filled with worry and sadness._

"_What happened Professor? Are my parents all right?" James suddenly felt a surge of panic, and immediately jumped to the conclusion that someone he loved had been harmed._

"_No, dear James. It is… it is you," Dumbledore looked oddly shaken._

"_What happened sir? I am perfectly fine. Do you need to see Madam Pomfrey?" James shook the Headmaster gently, his brow furrowed with worry._

"_I was told something, James," Dumbledore slowly sat down in his chair, as James did the same in his own chair, "Something so terrible," he swallowed, "They said that you would die one year after your first child was born."_

"_What?" James immediately stood up, "I haven't even had my first date or my kiss yet!" he then blushed, realizing what he had said, "I'm not good with girls."_

"_No time to joke, Mr. Potter. We must fulfill this mission quickly."_

"_Wait, wait what are we doing?" James asked as he was pulled deeper into the Headmaster's office._

"So basically, Dumbledore is allowing all of us one chance to go into the future so you can see your child in his first year at Hogwarts?" Remus asked quietly.

"Yeah, that's about it," James replied bitterly, "I guess instead of trying to save us, the old guy is trying to let me die happy."

"Well, I suppose you'll die handsome, without the wrinkles, then," Sirius joked half-heartedly.

James simply raised one shoulder, than let it drop. He could barely support himself. _You're going to die, you're going to die, you're going to die… _those words repeated themselves over and over again in the hopeless mantra.

He clutched the piece of parchment with the spell on it tightly in his left hand. The pain stabbed at his heart repeatedly.

"Let's get this over with, guys," his voice was weak, "Besides," he cracked a small smile, "I want to see how handsome my son is."

"You'll be okay, Prongs," Peter reassured quietly, even though he knew it was a complete lie, "Dumbledore won't let you die. We'll all protect you."

And of course, Peter never kept his side of his promise.

0o0o0

Lily Evans walked down the hallway, head up, and her long red hair bouncing a little with every step. She was honestly quite happy for the first time in days, and she wanted to enjoy it as much as possible.

Professor McGonagall had told her to see the Headmaster, and she was absolutely positive it was good news. She was about to turn a corner, when she heard quiet voices near her, just around the corner.

It was quite obvious of who it was, the question was, what were they doing here? Lily stalked up to the famous group, hands on her hips, her temper flaring, like it always did when she was in front of these infernal troublemakers.

The Marauders were hunched together in a tight circle, either discussing something or casting a complex spell. Lily, being the pessimist she was, decided it was the latter.

She coughed loudly, and receiving no response, called loudly, "Hello?"

They still continued to whisper, and she was absolutely positive that they were casting a spell. Her temper rose dangerously, and her voice rose as well, "Are you ignoring me on purpose, Potter? I promise the Headmaster will hear about this!"

However, the four Marauders continued to ignore Lily. Very immaturely, Lily let out a shriek. Nobody ignored her, nobody! She quickly jumped on top of Peter, the weakest of them all, but the other three continued to whisper the incantations.

"What is going on here?" she hissed into poor Peter's face, and he cringed against the furious red-headed girl, "Tell me right now, Pettigrew, or I'll-"

"Nothing, I swear! Dumbledore's orders!" Peter squealed, cowering against Lily.

"Evans, get off!" she suddenly heard a roar behind her, and she was pulled off Peter forcefully, "Get off, you don't know what's going on!"

"Oh?" she snapped at Sirius, who had pulled her off of his friend, "Then why don't you tell me, Black? Why won't you? Why are you whispering in a corner?"

"It's none of your business!" Sirius retorted back, as James and Remus continued whispering.

"I'm head girl!" Lily bristled, "I deserve to know!"

"Evans, just let us go for once!" Sirius growled.

"Why in the world should I do that?" Lily spat back, "You never did anything good for me. I don't owe you anything. You always escape whenever I tell on you, why don't you escape now?"

"It's for your own good," Sirius replied in a softer voice than before.

"Prove it," the red headed girl's lip curled into a sneer unfitting for her face, "Prove that it's for my own good, and just _maybe _I'll let you go this once."

Sirius looked hopelessly at Remus and James, but they were both concentrated on the spell. Then suddenly, the ground glowed gold, and the circle stretched farther than where Lily was standing.

"Too late," he replied simply, and raced to his friends, and Peter followed.

"Sirius Orion Black!" Lily shrieked loudly, "Get back here!" she tackled the large teen down, just as the spell was completed, and all in the circle were sucked into the time stream.

Lily was surrounded by gold. She had read about time streams very often, but this was her first time experiencing it firsthand. Curious, she was about to reach out to touch something, when the speed suddenly increased and she felt a sucking sensation.

She shut her eyes, and rolled on solid ground. She lay there for a few moments, catching her breath, enjoying the blissful sense of ignorance.

"Hey, Evans, did that prove it for you?" a familiar, arrogant voice broke her from her thoughts.

Lily glared up at the speaker, none other than James Potter, "You satisfied now, Black?" she spoke slowly so he could hear, "Is this good enough of a victory for you?"

"Well, I guess proving Lily Evans wrong is quite an accomplishment, mind you," Sirius grinned, receiving a smack from Lily.

"Will you stop arguing for a second?" Remus quietly asked, annoyance in his voice, "I think there's a large problem here."

Sirius, James, and even Lily spun around to face the two remaining Marauders. Remus's face was grim as he looked at Peter. As for naïve Peter, he was playing with a ball of gold that was from…

"Oh no," James groaned, running his hand through his hair, "Don't tell me that's from what I think it is. Please tell me it's not from what I think it is."

"The time stream," Lily answered James's fears, "Peter took it from the time stream."

"We're stuck here forever," Remus nodded grimly.

0o0o0

James stared, horrified at his kind and thoughtless friend. He would never be able to return to the time he called his own.

"Okay, you all owe me an explanation!" Lily stomped her foot in frustration, "This is all your fault, I at least deserve an explanation to this stupid madness!"

"Are explanations really that important at the moment, Lily?" Remus asked quietly, "We're going to be stuck in the future for the rest of our lives and you're worried about not knowing?"

"I…" Lily was lost for words.

"Guys," James sighed, his eyes filled with regret and sadness, "and girl, I'm so sorry. This was all my fault, a stupid wish."

"Don't say that," Sirius commanded, "Don't take the blame on yourself. It wasn't a stupid dream, Prongs. It was one of the most noble things to do, to see your child before you die."

"What's going on here?" Lily screamed, "Is it that hard to tell me? I'm here too!"

All of the Marauders winced, and Peter dropped the ball of the time stream.

James looked tiredly at the Head Girl, "Evans," he paused, "I'm going to die. Dumbledore told me, and he decided to let me travel in the future to see my son at his first year at Hogwarts. I was only supposed to stay for a few days at the most, but then this happened."

"What?" Lily almost screamed, but it came out as a choked sob, "You, James Potter, are going to die? When?" it seemed quite unimaginable to Lily, the leader of the Marauders, the undefeatable James Potter, _dying. _

"He said about one year after my first and only child was born," there was a bitterness in James's voice that Lily had never heard before, "Cheerful, isn't it?"

For once, Lily was lost for words, no snappy comeback, no yelling or screaming, "I'm sorry, James," she whispered, calling James by his first name for once.

"It's fine, Evans," he straightened himself, clearing his head, "It's nothing. At least I'll die young."

Lily looked unconvinced, but nodded uncertainly, "All right," she stared down at her shoes, "If you say so."

"Hey!" Sirius yelled suddenly, "We're shrinking… and we look younger! Hey, what's happening!" Sirius's voice lost its low tone, and sounded younger.

Lily suddenly felt a tingling sensation as well, and the world suddenly seemed a lot higher than before. Around her, the other Marauders were shrinking as well, and regaining boyish features on their faces.

"How does it feel to be eleven?"Lily joked, her voice a lot higher than before.

"It feels interesting," James replied, looking at his smaller hands and nodding, "I feel a lot stronger, but weaker at the same time."

"Wait, where are we?" Remus asked the reasonable question, "We're just in a field of grass. I hope we can Apparate."

"Let me try! Let's meet at Diagon Alley, if it's still there, all right?" Sirius grinned, then with a whoosh, he disappeared.

"I think that's a yes?" Lily raised an eyebrow as James, then Remus disappeared.

It was only Peter and Lily left now. Lily gave Peter a small smile, before Apparating to Diagon Alley.

0o0o0

"Hello, James," Sirius grinned once, "Let's try to find the date, shall we? Find some newspapers, or some bulletin or something."

"Found it," a feminine voice replied almost immediately, "_Accio _Daily Prophet!"

"Or we can just ask Lily Evans nicely," Remus finished for his friend."

"The date is August 31st, a day before Hogwarts starts," Lily read off the paper, "So we can get our supplies, assuming that any of us have money?"

"Um… Gringotts?" James asked, "I mean, if I'm dead, I'll probably have _some _money left over," he smiled hopefully.

"Sure, if you're willing to buy us all school supplies, "Sirius grinned, "Don't worry, we all probably have an account."

"So we go to Gringotts, get money, then what?" Remus asked mildly.

"Hey guys!" Peter's voice suddenly called, filled with innocent excitement, "We got a whole bunch of letters! I think they're from Hogwarts!"

Exactly five owls flew by and dropped the letters to their respective time travelers. The sound of ripping of letters filled the air, but was unheard by any bystanders, for they were too busy running errands of their own.

"Hey, I don't think this is my letter!" James called, "It says, Jason Parkers."

"If you're really telling the truth about Dumbledore knowing, do you really think he'd state our real names? My name isn't Lucy Edwards either. Ugh, I can't imagine being called Lucy. That's such a bland name!" Lily sighed.

"I'm Phillip Peters," Peter grinned his classic mousy smile, "At least part of my name is in there."

"Samuel Brown," Sirius rolled his eyes at the uncreative last name most likely Dumbledore had chosen for him, "I guess I'm continuing the color tradition?"

"Ralph Lawrence," (A/N: get it? Hint: It's a clothing brand sound-alike Poor Moony XP) Remus added in his quiet voice.

"Remember your names from now on," Lily commanded in a bossy voice, "Except in Gringotts. I'm sure the goblins will be forgiving."

Normal people would have laughed, hearing the word "goblins" and "forgiving" in the same sentence, but the Marauders were not normal people.

0o0o0

Lily had to stand on her tiptoes to see the desk. She let out a quiet sigh. She hated being short. The normally tall girl had no idea how she had survived so many years of being so _short! _

"Hi, I'm looking for Verena," she called, trying to look at the goblin straight, but couldn't.

"And who are you?" the goblin at the counter asked coldly.

Lily shut her eyes tightly, trying to think of a plan. She couldn't say she was Lily Evans, because she looked eleven.

"My name is-"

She was interrupted by a loud scream of happiness, "Lucy, Jason, Ralph, Phillip, Sammy, you all came!" Verena Satran quickly tackled the Marauders, "I missed you guys so, so much! You need to pull out money, right?"

The goblin behind the counter coughed slightly, "Excuse me, ma'am, but who are these children? They do not seem very familiar."

"That is not your job, to contradict me, Mr. Vetter," Verena's voice was suddenly very icy, "Please return to what you were doing before."

"Yes of course, ma'am," the goblin bowed a few times, shaking visibly.

"Thank you," Verena suddenly smiled brightly, "I hope you will allow access to the vaults?" she didn't wait for an answer, "Thank you again, have a lovely day."

With that, the strong female goblin dragged the five of us into the vaults.

"God, you can be scary, Verena, you know that?"James shook his head, and he was suddenly faced with an angry looking female goblin, "Sorry, sorry, you're not scary at all, Rena!"

"I got you in the vaults, dear James. What more can you want?" Verena asked in a quiet voice that was somehow scarier than her loud intimidating voice.

"Nothing, Rena, nothing!" James began to panic slightly.

"Good," Verena smiled a thin smile, "Now, any more comments?"

The four others were silent. Verena continued her walk, as the Marauders and Lily followed. James was suddenly hit by a strong fist.

"Ow…" he glared at Lily, who had thrown the punch, "What was that for?"

"Be nice next time. You know how Rena is. Just shut your mouth," Lily glared right back, "We're here for _your _son."

"I'm here to see my son for the last time. Why are you here? Because you were being nosy, right? I'd advise you to shut _your _mouth," James retaliated, and Lily couldn't say anything to that.

0o0o0

Verena took great pleasure in making her five friends completely sick, and once the Marauders and Lily Evans were outside of Gringotts, they were positively about to throw up.

"At least," Lily gasped, "All of us," gasp, "had money," gasp, "in our accounts!" she finally finished, heaving.

Remus raised his wand with shaking hands, "E…e…pis…pis…key," he cast the spell in a weak voice, and suddenly, the group of five felt much better.

"Thanks, Ralph," Sirius smiled weakly, "I really thought I was going to throw up on the clean streets in front of Gringotts."

"Yeah," James sighed happily, "Verena's friend or not, they would have mauled us to death."

"Thank you, Re- Mmph!" Lily immediately covered Peter's face.

"Remember?" she hissed quietly so only Peter could hear her, "You can't forget the names, Pettigrew! Do you want us to get caught?"

"No-no!"Peter wailed, but his mouth was covered again, this time by James.

"Follow me," Sirius commanded. Lily nodded, pulling Peter with James. Remus followed, looking around cautiously.

0o0o0

After sneaking around for about 30 minutes around Diagon Alley, Sirius finally stopped and announced happily, "We're here!"

"Um, Black, we walked around the entire place known as Diagon Alley to come to Flourish and Blotts?" Lily asked, raising her eyebrow.

"Yup. I'm trying to get you less uptight, Evans," Sirius replied calmly, a smile playing at his face, "At least you learned about some of the hidden tunnels of Diagon Alley."

"I will fucking kill you, Black. You better watch it when you sleep," Lily muttered darkly, "I had to carry Pettigrew with Potter… you will pay."

"Ooh, scary, Evans!" Sirius joked, making scary faces and the girl, "Your threats are the scariest things EVER!"

"Shut up! Thirty points from-" Lily immediately blushed, realizing that she wasn't at Hogwarts, or even in her time when she had been Head Girl.

The Marauders stared at her, dumbfounded, and an awkward silence filled the air, until James started laughing hysterically, and was soon joined by the rest of the Marauders. Lily's cheeks turned the same color as her hair, and she hugged herself in embarrassment.

"Remember, you're a first year now, Evans," even Remus was laughing hard, "No more taking away points, sadly for you."

Sirius and James couldn't say anything because they were laughing too hard. Lily felt heat rise up to her cheeks, almost like her cheeks were on fire. Peter was laughing as well, rolling on the pavement. She smiled a small smile.

Lily calmly pulled out her wand, face still flushing, and cast a special spell. Almost immediately, the laughing teens floated upwards, still laughing. When they were a few yards off the ground, she let them drop, right after she transfigured a pebble on the street into a mattress.

"You are evil, Evans!" James tried to act angry, but came out smiling, "At least you didn't kill us!"

"Yes, so be thankful, Potter," Lily replied, "Now, let's get shopping, shall we?" she asked nonchalantly, disappearing into the large book store.

0o0o0

The Marauders staggered into their room at the Leaky Cauldron, obviously exhausted. Sirius looked just about ready to fall asleep, James looked like he was going to pass out, Peter was already passed out, and Remus looked like it was already full moon.

"Lesson learned," Sirius collapsed on a bed, "Never go on a shopping trip with Evans."

"Agreed," James nodded weakly, collapsing in the other bed, "I might be a physically fit Quidditch player, but that shopping trip was way too much."

"I think it was payback for earlier," Remus groaned, "It was your fault for laughing at Lily."

"What? She already got payback for that, though!" James exclaimed suddenly, then slumped back onto his bed, "She like dropped us from the sky!"

"That was quite scary… That Evans is dangerous. She scares me now," Sirius sighed, "I think she's going to ambush me at night, like she said earlier."

"If she does so, you're on your own," James joked, "I'm not helping you against Evans."

"Not funny!" Sirius yelped in alarm, then realized his friend was joking, "I can't take on Evans alone! Damn, I don't even think we both can take her on!"

0o0o0

The Lily Evans the Marauders had been discussing was trying on her new robes, a smirk of satisfaction on her face. When she had seen the Marauders as they got rooms in the Leaky Cauldron, she knew her job had been well done. Sprinting at top speed through the shops of Diagon Alley was not really the best course of action for the prankster group, especially because they were the ones catching all the items. Lily had only _accio-_ed them out of the shelves.

Even Lily had to admit that she was slightly tired, but the shopping spree had been worth it. Because she was a girl, she got a whole room to herself, and she quickly changed into comfortable pajamas (which she had bought in Muggle London during the shopping spree) and lied down on her bed. It was already 8:32. Tomorrow would be her first year at Hogwarts again. She would rest.

Staring at the beautiful night sky, Lily fell asleep. In the next room, the Marauders were already asleep, Peter and Remus on the floor, and James and Sirius on the beds.

0o0o0

"Wake up! Wake up, Evans!" James pounded on Lily's door, but it didn't open, "Wake up, we have to go to Hogwarts! Come on!"

Normally, Lily was the one who did the pounding and yelling, and James was the one sleeping, but today, it was the opposite.

"I'm opening the door! Here I come!" James warned, and when he got no reply, he pulled out his wand, "_Alohomora!_"

The door, even in the magical world, clicked open, and James was greeted by the sight of Lily Evans sleeping peacefully in her bed, her normally brushed and neat hair in disarray, stretching in all different directions on her pillow. She was thankfully mostly covered by her sheets, but she was wearing a tanktop, which was quite distracting for James.

"Evans, wake up!" James tried not to focus on Lily's thin, but not skinny arms, and a little bit of her cleavage that was showing. _Damn hormones, _he thought, "Evans!" he roared. Still no reply. "Fine, sleep and miss the train," James turned his back on the red headed girl, and was about to go back to his room, when he felt a spell hit him. His limbs tightened together, and he fell backwards. _Damn Evans and her nonverbal spells._

"Rise and shine," Lily smiled cheerfully down at James, "Surprise, surprise, James. Next time, please don't stare at me in my tanktop," she stretched on purpose, seeing his eyes widen, even though there wasn't much to see because of her younger age, "Well, you can miss the train. I'm going to get ready." She skipped off into the bathroom.

James could only glare indignantly.

0o0o0

Meanwhile, the other Marauders were frantically getting ready, packing their bags, changing into school robes, and fixing their hair.(mostly only in Sirius's case.) In other words, they didn't have time to notice that James was gone, until they were all ready.

Remus, who took the least time to get read, was the first to notice, "Hey, have you guys seen James? I haven't seen him get ready after he went to wake up Lily."

"Me neither," Sirius agreed, "What about you, Petey?"

"I don't know," Peter replied honestly, "I really thought he was here," the small boy seemed to think for a moment, then exclaimed, "Maybe he's still held captive by Lily!" he let out a small shudder, thinking about the "scary" Head Girl, and though he didn't know it, he was actually right.

"All right then, let's go find him," Remus stated the simplest course of action.

"Let's hope we don't find ourselves staring at a snog fest!" Sirius joked, and let out his bark-like laughter when he saw Remus and Peter's horrified faces.

The horrified faces still etched onto their faces, Remus and Peter found themselves dragged towards Lily's room.

Sirius leaned his ear against the door, listening for any sign of conversation. There wasn't any, then he suddenly heard the water running.

"Hey, I don't think anybody's in there. James isn't complaining or anything. Lily's just getting ready. The water's running," Sirius reported.

"All right," Remus nodded, "Let's look around a bit more."

0o0o0

Lily hummed a little tune. Obviously, because James was caught in the Body-bind curse, he couldn't say anything. She continued to brush her long hair, ignoring James's death glares.

"Hm… I think I'll let you go around… ten minutes before eleven?" Lily smirked, "Then we can Apparate to the Express on time, don't you think?"

James couldn't do anything, but was thinking very murderous thoughts at Lily Evans, that were not all that pleasant, or eleven-year old appropriate.

"Stop glaring at me," Lily snapped, "It's ruining my skin!"

James rolled his eyes, knowing that even Remus cared for his skin more than Lily. He didn't oblige, instead glaring at her with a higher intensity.

Lily sighed, and looked like she was about to give up. Suddenly, she immediately spun around, and flicked her wand, "_Aguamenti!"_

A jet of water sprayed squarely on James's face, and he couldn't do anything about it. If looks could kill, the glare James gave Lily would have killed her more effectively than the Killing Curse.

She laughed loudly, clutching her stomach at James's precious hair, which was soaking wet, making his hard work completely a waste of time. However, the laugh was the mistake that cost Lily her discovery. At that moment, the door slammed open, revealing Sirius, Remus, and Peter. Her laugh froze, her eyes widening.

"Hello Lily, I see James is here as well," Sirius's voice dripped with sarcasm, "Having a pleasant visit, Prongs?" Lily cursed quietly, as James glared at her triumphantly.

Sirius immediately cast the counter curse on James, and James quickly jumped up to his feet. "Thank you for laughing, Evans," there was a large smirk on his face. "You're welcome, Potter," Lily replied icily, and sent all the Marauders flying out the door with a flick of her wand. She continued cursing bitterly at her prank which had been failed.

0o0o0

"You're lucky Evans laughed, if she didn't, you would still be frozen on the floor of Evans's room!" Sirius laughed, slapping his friend on the back.

"I noticed," James sighed bitterly. This was the second time Lily had done the "cast the spell when James's back was turned" trick, and if it weren't for his friends, he would still be on Lily's floor, only able to glare, which didn't faze her much.

"You better stop sulking, Prongs, and fix your hair. We still have about 45 minutes, and that's just enough time to get your hair in perfect shape," James was already in the bathroom before Remus finished his thought.

James furiously brushed his hair, because it was already wet. He could hear his friends laughing from outside, but he didn't care. How could he go to Hogwarts with his hair _messy_? Fuck Evans and his crush on her, he was furious. After about 30 minutes of furious brushing and applying hair chemicals, James's hair was back to the satisfactory stage.

"Hurry, hurry! Pack your bags, Prongs! Come on!" Sirius urged his friend, "We have 15 minutes! We can't miss the Express, you know that!"

"Yeah, I'll organize at the dorms when we get there!" James called, and began Accio-ing all his belongings into his bag, "I love magic!" he grinned.

"I thought wizards are supposed to love magic," Peter looked around, confused.

"Yes, Prongsie just had a need to dictate it out loud," Sirius patted Peter on the back, smiling, "He just feels appreciative to magic at the moment."

"Don't use big words!" Peter complained.

"All right, sorry, sorry," Sirius raised his hands in surrender, "I apologize, dear Wormtail."

"I told you not to use big words!" Peter wailed, as Sirius blinked at him.

"What? I didn't!" Sirius injected.

"I think he means apologize," Remus smiled a small smile, "It is nine letters."

"Wait what?" Sirius looked incredulously at Peter, "Apologize is not a big word!" he retorted, "It's only three syllables!"

"But it's…" Peter began counting the letters of "apologize" with his fingers, but failed every time due to his lack of knowing the spelling.

"Nine letters," Remus finished for his friend.

"Yes, nine letters!" Peter repeated.

"I'm done!" James yelled happily, zipping up the trunk, "Let's get this party going, boys!" he paraded out of the room, and the Marauders shrugged and followed, vocabulary argument forgotten- for the moment, at least.

0o0o0

Lily stomped around the room, frustration radiating off of her. She hated this so much. She hated the fact that she was in the future. She hated that the only people she actually knew so far were the stinking Marauders. She hated the fact that she couldn't go back. And she hated the fact that it was all her fault.

The frustration from laughing had only escalated after the Marauders left after their heroic rescue. First, she had spent some time cursing, then spent some more time screaming into the bed sheets, then some more time venting off anger by throwing darts at a poorly drawn picture of the Marauders. All of her activities did not help subdue her anger. They would have done fine in any other situation, but Lily couldn't stand knowing that her situation was _all her fault. _ Without thinking, she grabbed all her bags, and Apparated to King's Cross Station, not caring about the consequences. For the first time, she felt utterly selfish, and it was almost a nice feeling.

0o0o0

"Evans isn't in her room!" James shouted, worry evident in his voice, "Sirius, check downstairs, quick! All her bags are gone too."

"I'm going!" Sirius called back immediately, racing down the stairs. "She probably just left for King's Cross," Remus pointed out to James, "She looked pretty mad when we rescued you."

"Maybe," James agreed quietly.

"Don't feel bad," Peter looked up at James, his eyes wide, like an innocent child, which he was, "I'm sure Lily's not too mad. Besides, it's not your fault!"

"That's why I'm worried, Petey," James smiled tightly.

"She's not down here!" Sirius reported.

"Okay, boys. Grab your bags. We're going to King's Cross," James commanded, trying to sound sure of himself, like a leader.

"Wait, why are we going to leave Lily behind?" Peter asked, obviously confused.

"We're not. She left us behind," Sirius replied before James could open his mouth, "Don't worry, we'll find her, James," Sirius smiled at his best friend.

"I trust you, buddy," James smiled back, a genuine smile for the first time that day.

0o0o0

Lily felt utterly overwhelmed. It was King's Cross Station, all right, but there were so many people, that she couldn't find the barrier. Misery began to take over all the other emotions. She was sure of one thing: she shouldn't have left the Marauders behind.

Suddenly, she felt a whoosh of somebody Apparating right behind her, and Lily spun around to find herself face to face with James Potter, so close that their noses were almost flinched, taking a massive step back, crashing into a tall Muggle, who promptly glared at her. James stared at Lily, not knowing if he should have been angry or happy.

In the end, he stuck with relief."Evans, you have no idea how long I've been searching for you!" he exclaimed.

She simply shrugged, "Yell at me later. We're going to miss the train!" then headed off one direction.

"Evans, wrong way!" James laughed, and before he could change his mind, he grabbed the girl's arm and pulled her through the crowd.

"Potter let go of me, let go of me right now!" she screamed, receiving weird glances from the Muggles, until she saw the pillar."Okay, we have every Muggle's attention, how do we get in?" James asked Lily, a cocky smirk on his face, "Have any plan?"

"As a matter of fact, I do," Lily replied, smiling inwardly when she saw James's expression falter, "We use the cloak that I saw you bring."

James's jaw dropped, "How- how did you know? Even the other Marauders don't know!"

"Hm… so you agree with my plan?" Lily asked innocently, avoiding the question.

"I suppose, Evans," James sighed, and Lily's face broke into a sunny smile. Another point for smirked, and snatched James's precious cloak, and quickly threw it over the two of them.

Lily knew that James was glaring at her, but this was too much fun."You better not get out!" she whispered, a grin plastered on her face, and Lily sprinted at the barrier, as James struggled to stay under the a few seconds of struggling under the Invisibility Cloak, James and Lily raced into the barrier, and finally found themselves at Platform 9 ¾ with 5 minutes to spare.

The unlikely pair stepped onto the Express, and found the compartment where the other Marauders were sitting. An awkward silence hung in the air, and the five eleven year olds looked at each other uncertainly.

Sirius was finally the one to first speak."You have no idea how worried we were," he narrowed his eyes slightly, and everyone in the compartment knew that he was glaring at Lily.

"Don't do that again, all right, Lily? We're in a different time, remember. We can't get lost," Remus added in a slightly kinder voice.

"I didn't come to your compartment to get scolded by my peers," Lily retorted stiffly, her face turning a bright shade of red.

"Well, you deserved it!" Sirius suddenly yelled, and Lily froze, "Not only did you put _yourself _in danger, you even made us so fucking worried for James as well!"

Lily was truly afraid. She had never seen Sirius this angry, and it was so terrible to have it directed straight at her. She could feel James stiffen next to her.

"Sirius-" Remus began, but was interrupted by his friend, "Evans, get out. You don't deserve our protection, you're nothing but a filthy, selfish _Mudblood._"

"Sirius!" James was furious, "How could you call her-" before he could finish, Lily was already out of the compartment, racing through the train, trying to find an empty compartment."How could you do that?" James asked in a hollow voice, "How could you, Padfoot?"

By that time, Sirius had realized his mistake. Shame filled his entire face, and he looked just about ready to cry, like Lily."I- I'm sorry, Prongs," he whispered, "I was just so worried, and I was just so angry at Lily for putting you in danger. I shouldn't said that, please forgive me."

"I forgive you, Paddy," James sighed miserably, "It's just will _Evans _forgive you?" Nobody had an answer for that.

0o0o0

The train started moving while Lily was racing down the train, tears running down her face. She finally rushed into a random compartment, hoping that it was empty. Leaning against the wall, she began to fully sob, until she realized that she wasn't alone.

"Um… Are you all right?" the blonde boy asked, genuine concern in his grey simply nodded, forcing herself to stop crying.

She childishly wiped her tears with her hands, and looked away in embarrassment.

"You know, it's all right to cry," the girl with brown bushy hair commented kindly.

Finally gathering courage to do so, Lily looked at the others in the compartment. There were four others in the compartment. Sitting next to her was the bushy haired girl and a boy with fiery red hair. On the other side, was the blond boy with grey eyes, and another boy with brown eyes that looked so familiar.

Suddenly, Lily realized who the blond boy was, "By any chance," she asked him cautiously, "Are you Lucius and Narcissa's child?" she tried but failed to hide the contempt in her voice.

The boy obviously heard the contempt, because his cheeks flared, "Yes, my name is Draco Malfoy," he replied in a cold voice, "My father will hear about this."

Lily smirked, "If you tell on our father for somebody asking about your parentage, then are you truly as prideful as you say you are?"

Draco's eyes widened slightly, realizing that he had been beaten, and though nobody else knew it, he secretly agreed with her.

"Hey, lay off on my friend!" the brown haired boy glared at Lily, "It's none of your business, you know! So why do you care!"

Lily gasped. The boy's eyes… they were an emerald green, the same color hers. The rest of him looked exactly like James Potter, from the glasses to the hair. She realized, the loyal boy right in front of her was the one James Potter had come to see, and the reason she was in this mess as well.

Apparently, the boy had seen Lily staring, and looked at her annoyed, arms crossed, "Can you stop staring please? It's making me self conscious."

"You're- you're," Lily stammered.

"Yes, yes. I'm the Boy Who Lived, the one who lived against Voldemort," the brown haired boy looked annoyed, not because he was cocky, but because he didn't like the attention, which was completely different from James, "My name is Harry Potter."

**A/N: Thank you all for reading this, and please, please leave a review if you enjoyed this! Each review will be a… cookie for Jamesie! Review, if only to save James from starvation!~Fuzzy**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: I'm sorry for not updating for a long time… I had a HUGE writer's block… :/ Well, thanks for the cookies guys… I was REALLY happy, and so was James. He really likes cookies. However, all the other characters were jealous. So, this time, Remus will get a cookie. WARNING: I CANNOT DO HAGRID TALK, SO PLEASE UNDERSTAND IF MY HAGRID CONVERSATIONS ARE INACCURATE. I just had to put that out there… :D Hope you guys enjoy this chapter, though it'll be pretty sad/angsty. But it'll have some fluff. Sorry for the loooonnnnnnnggggg Author's Note, without further adieu, here's Chapter 2!**

The Marauders sat in their compartments, a suffocating silence filling the air. James looked just about ready to cry, along with Sirius. Peter sat uncertainly at the edge of the compartment, and Remus looked like he was thinking of a way to help his friends.

"Hey guys, it's okay. Lily will forgive us," Remus was first to speak.

"This is Lily. Head Girl, red-hot fiery tempered… It was our fault that she got dragged here in the first place!" James stared miserably at the floor, "I don't know what to do. On top of it all, I have a crush on her… My life sucks guys. I'm probably dead at this point…"

"I don't think it's a crush, James," clueless Peter pointed out, "Remember you said that a crush that lasts more than 6 months is a love."

"Yeah. That made me feel a hell lot better!" James didn't even bother to put the sarcasm in the sarcastic statement.

"I'm sorry, James. I know already said this, but…" Sirius interrupted Peter before the boy could speak, "I know I ruined your chance with Lily for the time being, and I'm sorry for it."

"It's not your fault," James sighed, running his fingers through his hair, "It's my fault that you guys are here. If only I had just accepted my death…"  
"Don't say that!" Sirius and Remus jumped to their feet at the same time, "Don't say that James Potter!" Sirius's eyes flashed dangerously, "If you say that one more time, I will kill you!" he realized the mistake of his words too late.

"Yeah, well maybe you should kill me already!" James yelled, on the verge of crying, "I'm supposed to be dead anyways!"

"Stop it, both of you!" Remus roared, and the compartment suddenly went silent. The werewolf looked around at his friends, "The fault goes to every single one of us, James, not just you. We chose to come with you to this time. You didn't influence us to do that."

"No guys, it's my fault," Peter's lip quivered, "I took the ball from the time stream, remember? Don't say it wasn't my fault we're stuck here. Because I may be stupid, but I know that much."

Nobody argued.

0o0o0

It took a lot of deep breaths to calm Lily. There were so many unanswered questions. Where did Harry live, if James was supposedly dead? Why did he have her eyes? And why did Lily feel such an urge to protect him?

"You know," Draco's voice interrupted her thoughts, "You never told us _your _name."

Lily stared out into space, lost in thought, until she realized he was talking to her. She blushed furiously, fixing her hair out of embarrassment, "Oh yes, I'm sorry, I was just lost in thought…" she rambled on, blushing again from the awkwardness of the whole situation, "My name's Lil-Lucy Edwards."

"Uh… Lil' Lucy Edwards?" the boy with red hair asked skeptically and from the corners of her eyes, Lily could see the others on board staring at her weirdly as well.

"Yeah," I tried desperately to hide the blush that was creeping into her cheeks_. Thank goodness for my short height… _"It was sort of a joke with my friends. You know I'm short, and all my friends were really tall…" she tried to remember if her "friends," AKA the Marauders, were tall. She let out a breath of relief when she realized they all towered over her, even when they were eleven, except Peter who was... Peter, "Well," she smiled brightly, "at least most of them anyways."

"I see," Draco agreed uncertainly, "Well, I'll just call you Lucy..." he cracked a small smile, apparently trying to ignore the earlier insult at his family, "because you're only a little shorter than me."

"Thanks," Lily smiled back, "It was sorta tiring, hearing all that teasing about my height," she sighed dramatically, "I was bullied by the ones I thought were my friends…"

The other members of the compartment chuckled a little, and Hermione flashed Lily a small grin, "I don't think you're that short, Lucy."

"Aw, thanks!"Lily grinned back, "It really means a lot to me, Hermione."

"Hey," Ron suddenly called out of the blue, "What house do you guys want to be sorted into?" he posed ridiculously, his right hand on his hips, and his left hand stretching out, "I want to be in Gryffindor!"

"Gryffindor is fine," Hermione nodded agreeably, "Ravenclaw seems nice too."

"You'd sure fit in it!" Harry grinned, deliberately avoiding Lily's gaze, "You're so smart, Hermione!" the brown-haired girl blushed, "Anyways," Harry continued, "I want to be in Gryffindor, like my parents."

Lily sucked in a breath, "Who were your parents?"

He looked at her quizzically, "If you know me, didn't you hear about my parents?"

"No," Lily replied honestly, "I'm a Muggle-born, like Hermione. I just heard people talking about you a lot at Diagon Alley."

Harry shrugged, "Okay. My parents were James and Lily Potter. Lily Evans Potter."

The world seemed to split into two at that moment. Lily was torn between crying her eyes out and screaming at the top of her lungs. She took a deep breath.

"They were both in Gryffindor?" she tried to smile brightly.

"Yeah," Harry replied, concern in his green eyes, "Hey Lucy, are you okay? Have you met my parents or something? You look a bit pale."

"Sorry, it's just that your parents are quite famous. I heard their names too while I was shopping. Wow, you do have a famous family!" Lily improvised as fast as she could.

Harry nodded, a little sadly, "That's quite a disadvantage, mind you," he sighed, "I hate people swarming over me like I'm the last piece of food on the planet."

"I see," she replied quietly, nor knowing what else to say, "I feel bad for you. I'm not really a sociable person either. You could call me a social outcast."

"Me too," Hermione smiled a small smile.

"Me three!" Ron grinned.

Draco simply nodded in agreement.

"So we're all socially awkward. Yet we're in a group of peers, talking like we've known each other for years," Harry laughed.

"So we're not really social outcasts then," Lily conceded.

"I guess so," Draco laughed, "Or maybe because we're all social outcasts, we don't seem like social outcasts because we're all similar."

"You know, I just realized, "Hermione thought carefully, "the conversation started from what House we want to be sorted into all the way to our social awkwardness."

That brought laughter into the entire compartment, and Lily suddenly felt better than she had felt in weeks, maybe months, or even years. She was just to drawn to the innocent laughter of First Year. Lily Evans finally realized she didn't want it to end. But it would end, very, very soon.

0o0o0

"We're here," Remus sighed tiredly.

"It's like the first day, of First Year all over again, and we're already exhausted," Sirius smiled weakly, "This is going to be a long seven years."

James simply nodded, while Peter stared off into space.

"Firs' Years! Firs' Years!" A familiar voice called through the heavy fog, "Firs' Years over here!" the four Marauders spun around as fast as they could.

"Hagrid!" James was the first to yell out, "Hagrid, it's us!" he raced immediately towards the old friend, as the other Marauders followed, "We finally found somebody!"

The other students looked at them quizzically, but didn't say anything. James was the first to reach Hagrid, and he quickly hugged the large man, "I didn't know you were still here. You have no idea how glad I am! So unbelievable!"

"Well, ell. Who's 'is?" Hagrid stared down at the four eager and happy Marauders, "Y'all are looking very anxious to board my boat. 'ell, it won't be much of a problem. Come aboard, you four!"

"Hagrid…" James' face visibly fell, "You don't recognize us?"

The half-giant squinted down at the four boys, "Nah. Bu' all Firs' Years look similar, and it's pretty dark outside, so I migh' be a lil' off." Hagrid replied.

The Marauders' faces fell considerably, most of all James, who was blushing furiously from embarrassment.

"You _are _Hagrid, right?" Peter asked timidly.

"O' course!" Hagrid exclaimed, "Who else can be me?"

Sirius, Remus, and James looked uncertainly at each other, as Peter, clueless as usual, let out a sigh of relief, "Whew, I thought you were some imposter or something! My name's Pe- MMPH!" Sirius slammed his hand on Peter's mouth instinctively.

"Pe? Tha's an inter'sting name! I'll see ya around then, Pe!" Hagrid shuffled away, obviously not knowing what to do.

"He… he didn't recognize us!" James wailed, "How could Hagrid…"

"This might be part of the spell. You know, the time stream spell," Sirius pointed out, "It could be one of the side effects: nobody remembering you."

"Perhaps," Remus agreed, "That seems likely."

James looked at his friends, despair growing in his stomach, "Yeah. This is all making me feel a hell lot better. All of this."

"Oh, that's good!" Peter grinned.

"That was sarcasm," Sirius replied.

"Oh…" Peter's face fell, "DON'T USE BIG WORDS, PADFOOT!" he suddenly shouted.

"Shush, Wormtail!" Remus hissed, and James's eyes widened.

"They're staring at us!" James whispered, "What do we do?"

"Follow me," Sirius replied, "Headmaster knows what we have to do."

"No he doesn't-" Peter was silenced by a fierce glare from Sirius.

"Peter, please don't argue, or just stay behind," Remus spoke for Sirius, who was livid, "This is very important, so we have to do this," he explained softly and vaguely, "All right?"

"No," Peter's voice shook slightly, but was firm, "No. I won't just follow you three anymore. I don't want to!" his voice rose, "You're always blocking me from what I want. I hate it!"

"And I thought we were all in this together!" James retorted sarcastically, "Fine then, Wormtail. You go in the Great Hall and have all the food you want. Paddy, Moony, and I are going for a run in the woods."

"No, you can't!" an unfamiliar female voice suddenly called behind them. The four Marauders spun around, to see a bushy brown haired girl standing behind them.

"Who are you?" Sirius asked, annoyed.

"My name is Hermione Granger," the girl replied, "and you just can't go on a run through the woods. It's dangerous. Especially if you're going through the Forbidden Forest… are you going through there?"

"Those are the only woods around here. If you're so smart, you should know that," James gritted his teeth.

"Oh I do know that, just making sure. Hogwarts, A History isn't all accurate, I guess, though it hasn't been wrong yet."

"Well, I'd appreciate if you leave us on our pleasant walk…" Remus held his breath, hoping Hermione would just leave them alone.

"If you take one more step, I'll tell Hagrid. And I don't think you'll go on any walk then. I suspect that you three are bluffing anyways."

"Three?" Peter asked indignantly.

"Yes, of course. You were trying to stop them, right?" Hermione asked, "I thought that was obvious."

Peter nodded, avoiding James and Sirius's gazes.

"Was that a threat?" Sirius growled quietly, barely stopping himself from transforming right then and there and ripping Hermione's throat out.

"Is this a threat?" Hermione retorted back, "Anyways, this is for your own good. The Forbidden Forest is dangerous."

"Well then you obviously don't know-" James then realized she really didn't know dangerous. He was in a different time. The only person who would actually let them go was Lily, but she was gone…

"Hermione, why don't we just let them go? They'll just get into trouble anyways," James's prayers were answered. The red-head was suddenly standing right behind Hermione, "I heard that there are teachers patrolling the Forbidden Forest today," Lily sent the Marauders a small smile, "After all, four First Years running around will be quite a sight."

"Okay then," Hermione shrugged, "You'll miss the Sorting though," she sent the boys an annoyed glance, then disappeared, "Come on, Lucy."

"In a moment," Lily called back. She walked to the Marauders, "James, I wouldn't go. Not because it's dangerous and that crap, but because of something else that's probably more important than a nighttime stroll to you."

"What is it?" James asked, "Is it important enough for you to send us off on a much-needed run then call us back?" Lily's green eyes filled with hurt, then cleared.

"That depends on how important your son is to you," Lily replied, a little coolly, "I was sitting in the same compartment as him on the train today."

"What? And you never came to see me?" James practically shouted.

"I don't think you wanted to see me. I decided to wait. A few hours without him won't kill you," Lily replied defensively.

"She has a point," Sirius sighed.

"Lily… I thought I could trust you," James whispered.

"And you can," she replied, "But I don't know if I can trust _you _after what happened today. I admit that what I did was wrong, but what you said to me earlier, Sirius… I don't know if I'll be able to trust any of you again."

"Lily…" James whispered, not knowing what to say.

"I don't know," she continued, "If I should try to get into Gryffindor. I feel like something bad will happen," she was lying terribly.

"Lily, don't," Sirius was at loss for words, "Look, I'm so sorry. But we need you. James needs you. We're in a different time. It's going to be hard, and we're sorry you had to come along. But the moment we find a cure, we'll get you into your own time."

_If only it was that simple… _Lily felt her eyes swimming with tears that she couldn't let fall.

0o0o0

"They're here, Minerva," Dumbledore sighed, "They really did come. I thought it wouldn't work, but they did come. I'm quite glad, yet sad at the same time."

"Why is that?"McGonagall asked.

"Lily Evans is with them. Maybe I was wrong to drag her into this. I didn't realize that Severus would become her professor. This will be quite stressful for her, especially if her best friend, albeit a former one, doesn't recognize her."

"I see," McGonagall replied, when she didn't see at all.

"I thought it was perfect, to give dear James another chance!" Albus continued his rant, "But I didn't realize what I was doing, until now. They are all in for a shock. I'm fairly certain nothing good will come from this. Oh what have I done?"

"Albus," McGonagall was still uncertain about the entire situation, but knew the Headmaster needed her support, "I'm sure you did the right thing. In the end, they will thank you."

"If you're saying that," Albus smiled a weak smile, "You have no idea what I was talking about, do you?"

"Yes. It was quite complicated," McGonagall winced, not wanting to admit she didn't understand something, "So Potter, Evans, Black, Pettigrew, and Lupin are all in this time?"

Dumbledore nodded, "Correct. However, there is some sort of Fidelius Charm on their identities. Obviously, we will know their true identities. I have a feeling this Charm is not permanent, and works only on humans, or part humans, but I can't place my finger on it, as in when it'll wear off."

McGonagall understood slightly, "They came to this time to see their son in their First Year, correct?"

"Yes," Albus smiled, "I'm quite glad you understand. Telling you was the first good decision I made in this situation, Minerva. I do hope you'll be a great ally in this situation."

"I will try my best," Minerva agreed, "But your plans are always the most complicated ones, and I have to admit, there are always casualties."

"Amen to that, Minerva."

0o0o0

Lily sat calmly on the boat, listening to the Marauders laughing together about silly little things. It almost seemed like they were actually eleven. But Lily was different.

_I need time! _Frustration coursed through her body, her unshed tears alternating from tears of anger and sorrow. _I need time to think! _

"Damn it!" she cursed quietly.

"What?" James spun around, "Ev-Edwards, did you just _curse?"_

_Damn Potter and his good ears too! _Lily cursed again, this time in her head, _Remember, apparently you married him. _Another part of her brain pointed out. _Shut up! _Lily scolded.

"No, I didn't. Since when was 'Dang it' a curse, Parkers?" Lily snapped, deciding to use the cheesy "I said dang it, not damn it" method.

"Oh," James shrugged, "I was just hoping you would break your No Curses Rule. You know, the one where you never ever curse, and get mad whenever we curse."

_I already broke it, _Lily thought to herself, then smiled at him, "No, sadly, I didn't. But when it does go away, I'll notify you immediately. Actually, you'll know, because the first curses will be aimed at you."

"Oh, she got you, Jason!" Sirius laughed, "Lucy got you there! The first curses from her mouth will be aimed towards you! Oh, Lucy Edwards is good!"

Remus and Peter joined in the laughter. James' face turned a bright shade of red, and he sort of glared… lovingly at Lily. Even the red-head, who was steaming from the close call, had to crack a laugh.

"Ha, ha, very funny," James sighed in an Eeyore-like tone from that Muggle show, Winnie the Pooh, "Very, very funny, Sammy."

"I thought we discussed this! Call me Sam!" Sirius' smile was wiped off, "Sammy makes me sound like a girl, and a five year girl at that!"

"That was sorta the point, _Sammy," _James grinned an infuriating smile, "That's the very exact point of calling you that. Bravo, you found the point!"

"Jason Parkers…" Sirius growled, but there was a merry twinkle in his eyes, "I will find an annoying nickname for you, even if it takes me my entire life!" he declared.

Lily had to laugh. The Marauders, no matter how annoying they were, were one of her only friends, the only familiar part of this new time. Their endless teasing, she realized, was one of her only ties to the past- her real time.

_Maybe you do want to marry James! _An annoying voice teased in her head.

"No," she replied firmly, not realizing that she was speaking out loud, "No."

"No what?" James asked.

_Damn his good hearing! _Lily screamed in her mind.

"No to Sirius finding a nickname. I mean, it's so hard to find a funny way to say Jason," Lily quickly improvised, "It's such a common and normal name!"

"So is Samuel!" Sirius complained.

"Yes," Lily admitted, warming up to this silly nicknames idea, "but, there's a really bisexual nickname in Samuel. Like you said, Sammy. But there isn't even a nickname for Jason!"

"Hear that, Sammy? There's no nickname for Jason!" James crowed triumphantly, "My name will be pure! My name is the safe name!"

"Sure, whatever," Sirius sighed, defeated.

"Well, there is one way… it's not exactly a nickname, but I have a funny way of saying Jason," Lily smiled slyly as her inspiration came to her, "Yay-son!" she grinned.

"Brilliant, Lucy!" Sirius' smile seemed to stretch from one ear to the other, "Hey Yay-son!"

"I have to admit, it is quite hilarious," Remus cracked a smile, and Peter even stopped dreaming about food for a moment.

"Shut up, Ralph Lauren!" James' face was quite red, "Shut up, Sammy Brown! Shut up, um…" he seemed to be thinking of a suitable funny name for 'Lucy,' but couldn't find one.

"I guess Lucy's name is the pure one," Remus grinned.

"Damn!" James cursed rather loudly, receiving some weird glances from the students on the boat near us. After all, normal eleven year olds didn't yell out the _D word _on a boat.

"I mean _dam, _as in the Rivelin Dam! D-A-M!" James yelled, "Not the D word!"

I smirked, "What? You're afraid you'll get caught cursing?" Lily couldn't stop herself from teasing the Prank King, "You always cursed in front of McGonagall," she lowered my voice, making sure the students in the other boats couldn't hear.

"That was Sixth Year, Evans," James whispered, "I'm apparently First Year now, and no matter how nice Minnie is, she doesn't like it when First Years curse."

"Hey I just realized," Remus piped up, "We might be getting taught by our former friends," the rest of the Marauders and even Lily stared blankly.

"What?" Peter blinked stupidly, though that was normal for him when Sirius and Remus were talking, "Why would we be taught be friends? Jam- Jason," he corrected himself, "always told us that teachers were not friends!" he finished proudly.

"Well Petie," Remus began to explain in the simplest way possible, "Remember we're a lot of years into the future, more than a decade. Maybe twelve years," he sent a pointed glance at James.

"What? I didn't marry a year after I graduated! I may not have been there, but I'm not that much of a player! I know I waited at least… 5 years! I'll grant you that!" James protested wildly.

Lily subconsciously felt her face reddening. _I can't believe that Potter thinks we married at the age of 23! No matter how much I loved him, I wouldn't agree to that!_ Luckily, it was too dark for anyone to notice.

"Whatever," Remus continued, raising his hands in surrender, "Anyways, at least one of our pals must have become a professor at that time! You know?"

"Oh, I see, Re-Ralph!" Peter nodded, "I get it. So we might be getting taught by like Frank?" Peter asked, "I know Frank wanted to be a professor. I think he wanted to be a Herbology teacher… Wait!" he shouted fairly loudly, attracting unwanted glances again, "Can our friend-teachers be friends, James? Because you always said-"

"Of course, Peter! That's the point of calling them teacher-friends! Or friend-teachers! Whatever you guys want to call them!" James beamed.

"I think teacher-friends has a nice ring to it," Lily joined in the discussion.

"All right then, Lucy!" James flashed Lily a smile, "Let's go with teacher-friends! All in agreement say Aye!" there was a chorus of "Aye's" from the Marauders, "It's settled then!" James called, then added in a quieter voice, "Let's hope they will actually recognize us."

0o0o0

Lily stood calmly in line. She knew what her decision would be. She had discussed it with Sirius. Lily knew how hurt James would be, but she had to do this. She couldn't be in Gryffindor, not after what she knew…

An impulsive urge caused her to spin around and check on Harry… _again. _She didn't know if it was her maternal instinct, but she didn't like it.

After a few names were called, Professor McGonagall called, "Brown, Samuel!"

Though she felt slightly uncomfortable and guilty about doing it, she squeezed Sirius' hand before he went up to the platform.

Once he put the hat on, Lily could tell he was in a serious discussion with the Hat. Finally, after some more discussion, the Hat shouted, "Ravenclaw!"

She let out a breath of relief, and calmly waited her turn. It came to quickly.

"Edwards, Lucy!"

Lily walked up the stairs, and sat on the stool as the Hat was placed on her head. She could see her friends sending her smiles and a thumbs up. She smiled weakly back.

_Hello, Lily._

_Hey, _she thought back, not knowing what else to say, _What's up. Long time no see._

_Yes. It has been quite a long time, though I was hoping to wait a bit longer before I saw you again._

_What? You didn't want to see me? _I asked indignant, _Gee, thanks. I greet you in a friendly way, and you tell me that you don't want to see me yet…_

_That's not what I mean. _Lily swore the Sorting Hat was sighing, _That is besides the point. What I want to talk about is your deal with Sirius._

_I'm not sitting in this chair to get yelled at by a ragged Hat. _Lily retorted.

_Are you afraid of pain?_

That question caught her so off guard that she almost fell off the stool. _Isn't everybody? Isn't that why you're afraid of fire? Everyone is afraid of something that hurts them, or has a chance of hurting them. Some phobias are more far-fetched than others, but it always leads to pain._

_You are quite wise. Is that why you wanted to join Ravenclaw? Because you were afraid the pain would capture you if you were in the same House as your son? You can barely control your maternal instincts after one day._

_That's an interesting way of putting it, _Lily hid her pain with anger, like James did, _pain capturing me. I don't think pain will catch me for a long while, Hat._

_Are you sure?_

_I'm fairly sure. It may torture me to the death, but I won't let it win._

_You do sound like a Gryffindor. Once a Gryffindor, always a Gryffindor._

_Stop toying with me! _Lily wanted to scream, _You let Sirius go. Why won't you let me? _Her eyes began to blur, but she realized that these were tears of anger, not sadness. White hot fury coursed through her body, and it was aimed at this pathetic ragged hat.

_Lily, I'm trying to help you, _The Hat tried to reason, _If you go into Ravenclaw, not only will it cause you pain, it will cause James great pain as well. However, James' path is already laced with pain, no matter which direction he goes. _

_I don't care about James Potter. I may have married him, but I didn't for now. He is not my boyfriend. He may moon over me like Peter used to moon over all cute girls, but I'm not falling for it!_

_The girls who say that always fall the fastest, _the Hat pointed out.

_Shut up, before I use a spell and burn you. _Lily rarely ever said something like that, especially to a treasured magical Hat.

_Touchy, touchy. I'm only trying to help. _The Hat repeated.

_And I'm trying to live. Give me a chance, please. You know how much it'll hurt me to be in the same House as my son!_

_They always tell me "you know this" and "you know that." I thought you were different. _The Hat didn't sound snarky or angry. It just sounded… tired.

_I know how you feel, Hat, _Lily tried to get her temper under control, _Trust me, I do._

_Lily, this may be your last chance. You already got a second chance to come back to your beloved school. Will you really ruin it by this one choice?_

_I have to. Nothing will hurt worse than being with Harry in the same house. Please, Sorting Hat._

_No matter what you do, pain will find you, _the Hat warned a final time.

Lily had to smirk. _Doesn't it always?_

_Lily Evans Potter… _she swore the Sorting Hat was taking a deep breath on her head.

"Ravenclaw!"

Lily suddenly felt a sudden tingling sensation at the base of her neck. She reflexively touched her neck, but there was nothing there. _No matter what you do, pain will find you. _The Sorting Hat tried to warn her. It had been serious. Something terrible was coming her way.

She took a seat next to Sirius, and this time, he squeezed her hand. Lily looked at him in thanks. He nodded slightly.

At that moment Lily Evans made a decision. No matter which House James, Remus, and Peter were sorted into, she would stop her stupid rivalry with them. She just had to. It was only pulling her down, deeper into a hole she could have avoided from Fifth Year, when she had abandoned Severus, and became completely alone.

She wasn't going to be that way here. She just couldn't. Not when her own sanity was in their hands. She remembered that morning, when she had just flipped out. Lily realized it was because she was _alone. _For years, she had thought it was completely fine, but it wasn't. It was taking away from her, piece by piece.

0o0o0

It felt sort of… funny to be in the Great Hall again, waiting to be Sorted. James foolishly wished to be in Gryffindor, just like that day, September 2nd, many years ago, when he had been in the same predicament as this. That day, however, he had been more innocent. He had been a _real _eleven year old, instead of a seventeen year old in an eleven year old shell. James knew more, and had seen more than he had wanted to. He was supposed to be married- and dead.

"Edwards, Lucy!" Professor McGonagall (whom James was quite surprised and happy to see) called out in a loud voice. James could feel his heart pounding.

"Ravenclaw!" the Hat shouted after a few moments of pondering.

James blinked stupidly. He could barely think. Thoughts began to swim in his head. Lily Evans was in _Ravenclaw? _This had to be some stupid joke from the hat! Even Professor McGonagall looked a little surprised, and worried.

_Of course she does! _James told himself, _Obviously Minnie has to remember us!_

Lily calmly walked to the Ravenclaw table, sitting randomly next to some barely heard the names being called, and the Houses being loudly shouted. He was barely subconscious of Hermione Granger being Sorted into Ravenclaw. He was finally pulled out of this trance-like state at the name of Draco Malfoy, apparently a family member of his enemy- no, his former enemy.

After thinking for an abnormally long time, the Sorting Hat finally opened its mouth, and shouted out, "Gryffindor!" James jumped suddenly.

_A Malfoy in Gryffindor? _He thought to himself, shocked.

Unlike the other Marauders, Lily didn't look shocked at all. She continued chatting amiably with her new friend, and gave him a small nod and smile. _What is going on? _James thought, very confused.

"Parkers, Jason!" Minnie's voice interrupted his thoughts, and he mechanically walked up to the Hat, anxious to get the truth.

_Hello. I know you're not Jason, dear James, like Lily was not Lucy. Don't be surprised, I did know who she was when I sorted her._

James wasn't very impressed. _Then why did you sort her into Ravenclaw? You knew she belonged in Gryffindor!_

_Ah. I knew you would say something about that, James. About that, Lily is having a very hard time at the moment._

_Be specific, _James snapped in his head, if that was possible, _I know you're toying with me, Hat. You know I like her, and care for her. So stop!_

_Enough with the attitude, _the Sorting Hat sounded amused, _Basically, she knows something that you will know soon as well. I had to give her a second chance, a chance where the troubles would be harder to attack her._

_What troubles? _James growled.

_You will know as soon as you sit down at the table._

_Sort me into Ravenclaw, I have to be with her! _James decided there was no use arguing with the cynical Sorting Hat, _You know that right? You've been toying with me!_

_Ah. Of course you would ask that, James Potter. Now ask yourself this question. Who is more important to you? If you get Sorted into Ravenclaw, the Marauders will become torn apart. Isn't it better to leave you crush and just join your friends? Much easier. Lily was never your friend. Why are you protecting her, James? She's fine. She's at Hogwarts now. _

James desperately tried to hold back tears, and finally, after a few moments of internal war, he calmed himself enough to use telepathy with the Sorting Hat again, _I don't know. Why did you have to sort Lily into Ravenclaw and make everything difficult for me?_

_I did not make anything difficult for you, James Potter, _The Sorting Hat promptly replied, _You did, by bringing her here. True, it was all part of Dumbledore's plan, but you could have stopped it. Lily would have been happy. You know that phrase, 'Ignorance is bliss?' That fits right here, James._

_I don't know what to do._

_You could easily fit into Ravenclaw. I could easily put you there. So could Remus and Sirius. So the question is, are you willing to sacrifice poor Peter to go to your love? Of course Remus and Sirius will join you. As you can see, Remus already took his second chance._

_What?_

_You must have missed it, James. Remus and Sirius were sorted into Ravenclaw, you see._

_They were? How? _James almost choked on his own spit.

_Yes, he did. But that is besides that point. However, as you know, your friend Peter…_

_You're only making this harder, Hat._

_No, I am not. I am making it easier. So now the question is, will you abandon your friend Peter, who… I cannot say what he will do, but anyway, will you abandon Peter for Remus, Sirius and Lily? Will you join your other friends, leaving the weakest member of your pack behind? That is obviously the wisest choice, like a wolf pack, which abandons the weakest…_

_Is there any way for the Marauders to be together? _James asked one last time, desperately.

_No matter what, there is no way. Even if Peter happened to be sorted into Ravenclaw, there would be no way your group will remain together. I'm afraid telling you this will only make everything harder, James. _Somehow, the Sorting Hat's voice sounded gentle, as if it was trying to reassure James somehow, _James Potter, before you make your choice, I want to tell you… this path you took, coming to this time, will cause you and Lily a great amount of pain. Perhaps Dumbledore was expecting too much of you. You could have died in ignorance, died happy, unknowing, James. That is what you should want…_

_Ravenclaw, _James realized the Sorting Hat's trick. It was using the prospect of the loss of knowledge to lure him into Ravenclaw. He didn't know why, but he took the bite. _I belong in Ravenclaw. I'm taking the second chance. Please try to protect Peter…_

_All right, James. I hope you will not regret your choice… either way, whether you chose Ravenclaw or Gryffindor, neither path would have been easy for you._

_I know. _James didn't want to say anything else.

"Ravenclaw!" the Sorting Hat shouted.

_Good bye, James. I hope this is the last time I speak with you._

_Oh, you really must like me._

_It is just the truth._

_Good bye._

James stood up, oblivious to the loud cheer from Ravenclaw. _They must have lots of kids coming to their House, _James realized, and sat in between Sirius and Remus.

"Was it hard?" Remus asked sympathetically.

"Very," James nodded, and swallowed._ Whether you chose Ravenclaw or Gryffindor, neither path would have been easy for you. _The Sorting Hat's words echoed in his mind.

"Peters, Phillip!" Minnie yelled, her face glistening with sweat. Her eyes darted nervously around the Great Hall.

Peter looked even more terrified than Minnie did. James' heart sank. What had he done, abandoning Peter, the only one of the Marauders who seemed actually like a First Year? _I'm sorry, Petie. _He apologized mentally, though he knew Peter probably couldn't hear him.

Without a moment of hesitation after being put on Peter's head, the Sorting Hat yelled out, "Slytherin!"

**A/N: Again, I'm sorry it took so long. Hope you enjoyed it, and next chapter is going to be one of those teacher-friends. *evil smile* You know what I mean. **

**Review! Remus wants a cookie to cheer him up because it's almost full moon! (Halloween) **


	3. Chapter 3 AND AN (NOT hiatus notice)

**A/N: I know 5 reviews is not a lot, compared to others, but I know it might sound pathetic, but I was quite happy, and so was Remus. So now on to chapter 3! **

**IMPORTANT: I'm so, so, so, busy that I've been wondering if somebody wanted to work on this story with me as a collab. I'll give you 50% credit. If anyone's interested, please PM me… **** (Don't worry, even if nobody offers the collab, it won't be a hiatus, the story would just take a REALLY long time to write.**

**Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling is the Queen of Harry Potter. The description of the Ravenclaw Common Room comes from Harry Potter Wikia, but I didn't plagiarize. I just used it as reference.**

**~Owly**

_Last Chapter: __Peter looked even more terrified than Minnie did. James' heart sank. What had he done, abandoning Peter, the only one of the Marauders who seemed actually like a First Year?__I'm sorry, Petie.__He apologized mentally, though he knew Peter probably couldn't hear him._

_Without a moment of hesitation after being put on Peter's head, the Sorting Hat yelled out, "Slytherin!"_

The Marauders were finally breaking apart. What made it worse was that it was mostly Lily's fault. Only mere minutes after her vow to be friendly with the Marauders, she had failed her promise.

She finally got the nerve to take a look at the other three Marauders. Sirius' face looked ashen, as if he regretted starting the deal with Lily. Feeling terrible, she squeezed his hand once, which was the least she could do. Remus looked completely miserable, and James just looked… grave.

"It told me," he muttered under his breath, so soft that Lily barely caught it, "I should have known… I was so selfish."

Lily realized that James had been warned about Peter by the Sorting Hat. Even though she felt extremely embarrassed and self conscious, she squeezed James' hand also, and he looked at her in surprise, but Lily's attention was already at Peter.

Peter looked extremely nervous, very close to crying his eyes out. James looked like he was furiously trying not to run to his friend and reassure him. Peter began to walk ever so slowly towards the Slytherin table, who looked quite disappointed that Peter was in their House. From the corner of her eye, Lily could see James balling up his fists under the table.

Lily felt like she was in yet another trance, but this time, it was shorter, because suddenly, she heard Professor McGonagall call the name, "Potter, Harry!"

James straightened, and Lily's head cleared. She felt a sudden urge to listen to this Sorting. It didn't take as long as James and Lily, but it still took a while to Sort Harry, and Lily was so wound up she could barely keep her composure.

"Gryffindor!" when the Hat shouted out Harry's House loudly, she jumped in her chair. She didn't do anything when James laid a hand on her back, steadying her.

"Calm down, Fire Girl!" he whispered.

Lily nodded, thinking, _You can't let him know. Not yet. _She told herself.

"Yeah… I'm just a little wound up from Peter," she finally looked up at James' eyes, and she was a little surprised to see shock in there.

"When did you start caring?" he asked.

That one comment hurt more than a knife cut. It made Lily realize how terrible she had been to the Marauders. She quickly blinked away tears, and tried to hold her voice steady, "Ever since I came here."

James shrugged, "Fair enough," he replied, and turned away.

Lily barely felt anything when her friend Ron Weasley was Sorted into Slytherin, though Hermione looked a little disappointed. Nor did she taste anything as she ate the delicious food from the Hogwarts kitchen, the food she would be able to eat for a long time.

"Are you okay?" James asked, concern in his brown eyes.

Lily simply shrugged, "I'm okay. Just a little tired. I'll be fine after a good night's sleep," she forced herself to smile brightly.

"All right," James agreed, still looking uncertain.

Sighing, Lily smiled even more brightly, "Listen James. I'm in Hogwarts. I'm perfectly safe, and I'm really happy. You don't have to worry about me anymore, I promise!"

"I get it, Lily. I won't hover over you like your dad anymore. I already have one kid to take care of," James laughed.

After that conversation, dinner went by fairly quickly, as Lily chatted animatedly with Hermione and the remaining Marauders. It still hurt every time she looked at Peter, eating with Ron, and not talking at all. Even when he was with the Marauders, he rarely ever talked, but he did talk, and there usually wasn't a terror in his eyes, though he did have a mouse-like nervousness.

She also caught James looking at Peter often as she did. Time seemed to speed by as she robotically put the food in her mouth. Normally, it tasted heavenly, no matter how many times she ate it, but now, it seemed to be tasteless.

Lily had cheered up, but nothing in the world would change the anxiousness for her son.

0o0o0

The Prefect named Penelope Clearwater, lead the First Years up the steps to the entrance to the Ravenclaw common room.

"As you probably know, to enter the Ravenclaw common room, you must answer a question correctly," she spoke in a very bossy voice, even bossier than Hermione's, James realized.

"What kind of questions will it be?" a Ravenclaw First Year asked.

"They will most likely be riddles," Penelope replied.

"What if we get the question wrong?" James asked, trying to hide his laughter as the other Ravenclaws snickered.

"Then you wait until somebody answers it for you, obviously," she responded, obviously not liking that particular question, "Now, I will answer today's question."

The Prefect rapped smartly on the door, and the eagle on the door began to speak in a clear voice, "What always runs but never walks, often murmurs, never talks, has a bed but never sleeps, has a mouth but never eats?"

"A river," even while answering a riddle, the Prefect sounded bossy.

The door swung open, sort of like the Fat Lady back at Gryffindor, and the Ravenclaws clambered in. James had to admit, it was impressive, and quite different from the Gryffindor Common Room, which he was used to.

The Ravenclaw Common Room was an airy, circular room, with a blue round carpet, like the room's shape itself. As he suspected, there were lots of book shelves, (filled with books, of course) tables, and chairs. The windows were arched, with blue and gold curtains.

In between the entrances of the two dormitories, there was a statue of Rowena Ravenclaw, which looked intelligent, even though it was just a statue.

"It's… different," James commented to Sirius and Remus.

"Way to state the obvious, Prongs," Sirius joked.

"I think it's quite nice," Lily smiled in satisfaction.

"Better than what my family described the Slytherin Dungeons as!" Sirius grinned.

Even Lily laughed at that. James was glad lily was feeling better; earlier, during the Sorting, she looked positively ill, in his view.

"You must like it, Lily and Moony," James laughed, "There are a lot of books. At least you'll be entertained through 7 years. Maybe you'll finish them all by the end of seventh year!"

Lily blushed, and Remus laughed embarrassedly.

"Come on, James. Stop the book jokes for once!" Remus sighed, but barely hid a smile, "After all, you're one of the Smarties now!"

"Well, I'm going to sleep, guys. Have fun!" Lily waved, and disappeared up the stairs. It took James a few seconds to figure out that Lily didn't mind if they went on a run through the Forest.

"Let's go run, shall we, friends? It's been a while since I've transformed, and I'm anxious to stretch a little," James smiled, already anticipating the cool air in the forest.

"It's not quite full moon yet, though," Remus pointed out.

"I know that doesn't affect you, Moony!" Sirius grinned, also looking excited, "You can morph whenever you want!"

Only the Marauders and other werewolves knew that a werewolf could transform into a wolf at any time, even if it wasn't full moon, though most didn't really want to.

"All right," Remus relented, "Let's grab Wormtail and go."

**A/N: I know it was a reeeaaalllllyyyy short chapte,r probably will be the only short one, even if I don't get any help on collab, but collab would make updates a lot faster. Thanks guys, I'm so sorry for late update/short chapter… **

**~Owly, who's very, very sorry.**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: I'm finally back, after I got the time to write this. Basically, my life has been so dramatic and busy lately that I had no time to write… but I'm not going to stop writing! :P Thanks for the support, and not minding that I rarely ever update… Well, hope you enjoy this dramatic chapter, though it's short **_**again. **_

**~Owly**

**Chapter 4**

The Marauders snuck into the Slytherin dungeons easily and dragged Peter out. Soon enough, they were running freely through the Forbidden Forest, like in the past.

_I don't think the future is that bad, guys, _Padfoot commented through their Animagi telepathy, _I mean, we have the Forest, and the Willow is probably still there._

_Let's check for the Willow! _Prongs thought happily.

_Are you sure, Prongs? _Moony asked, _There might be professors around._

_Don't you have better things to worry about than professors, Moony?_ Padfoot answered for Prongs, _Let's go, guys._

Prongs and Padfoot picked up pace towards the Willow, and Moony sighed, _Coming, Wormtail?_

There was no reply from Wormtail, and Moony tried again, _Come on, let's go to the Willow._

Wormtail still didn't say anything. Worried, Prongs and Padfoot walked back to the clearing where Wormtail was crouched.

_Come on, Wormy! _Prongs nudged him gently, _You love going to the Willow, what's wrong?_

_Prof-professor! _He finally answered, and quickly changed back into his human form, about to faint.

The other three groaned mentally.

_I thought there was some human here. I should have known… _Padfoot slumped slightly.

_Why didn't you tell us before, Wormy? _Prongs asked gently.

_That's not important, Prongs, _Moony pointed out, _We have to change back. The scent's strong._

Remus, James, and Sirius quickly changed back into their human forms, mere seconds before the professor burst into the clearing.

"Well, well, what do we have here? Four First Years taking a little moonlight stroll in the Forbidden Forest. You do realize that it is called _Forbidden _for a reason, right?" Severus Snape sneered.

0o0o0

Lily looked outside the window, curled up in the comfortable window spot, apparently used for reading. From her spot on the tower, she could see the Forbidden Forest clearly, but the Marauders were not outside yet.

"Probably getting Peter…" she murmured so nobody would hear her, "Poor Peter… He must be scared out his mind now."

"That seems like a nice spot," Hermione interrupted her thoughts, "But there are spots with better views."

Lily had to laugh, "Yeah," she agreed, "But I've always wondered what the Forbidden Forest looks like, and I have a perfect view."

"I suppose. But you're looking at it like it's the most important thing in life," Hermione laughed as well.

"Well, it does mean a lot to me," Lily replied honestly, "I've always wanted to see one of those forests where the Big Bad Wolf lives… and I think this forest is a perfect home for him… I'm trying to imagine fairy tales taking place down there," that was only a half lie. She had wondered about that when she was a real First Year.

"Oh. I've never thought about that," Hermione seemed to ponder the thought, "I think that'd be fun. Do you have any room for me?"

Lily nodded, making a spot for Hermione. They sat next to each other, staring outside at the Forbidden Forest, one actually imagining fairy tales, and the other worried about her friends.

After about 5 minutes, the Marauders were visible in a small clearing towards the center of the forest. Lily's eyes widened as she confirmed the werewolf, dog, and stag.

With perfect timing, Hermione rubbed her eyes, and jumped lightly off the window ledge, "Well, I'm going to sleep now. You should sleep too. It's the first day tomorrow."

"I will," Lily promised, "Good night!"

"Good night," Hermione returned, and walked up to the dormitories, leaving Lily alone.

That was when she saw the dark figure walking towards the clearing where the Marauders were. She sucked in a breath. She knew there was no way they would escape. Her prediction was correct.

She sighed and jumped off her spot. _Time to see Dumbledore, _she thought, and walked out of the Ravenclaw Common Room.

0o0o0

Lily wondered how the Marauders managed to walk around the halls at night so fearlessly. She hid every time she heard the smallest rustle, afraid she would get caught. She finally found herself outside of Dumbledore's office after 30 minutes because she hid behind every corner on the way down.

She looked up at the gargoyle statues that seemed even more menacingly now that they towered over her. Before she could state the password, the door flung open, and Severus Snape stepped out.

Lily couldn't move. _It can't be him, please not Severus! It's not him, it's not him, it can't be him! That man can't be Severus._

But deep in her heart, she knew that it was her former best friend. He still had that black hair, and black eyes. But now, there was a deep sadness in his eyes, much deeper than the hurt that had been in his eyes when Lily had left him. He was cold, too cold to be the Severus Lily knew.

She couldn't move when he looked over at her like an inferior being.

"Well, well, well, another First Year. I caught 4 Ravenclaw first years today breaking curfew. Of course, there was on Slytherin First Year as well, but you four made up for it," Severus sneered.

"Who… who are you?" Lily whispered, praying so hard that it wasn't Severus, just somebody else that looked like him, maybe a relative.

"My name is Severus Snape. Of course _you _must call my Professor, or Professor Snape. I am the Potion's Master, and Slytherin Head. And for making me say this, 20 points from Ravenclaw, and another 30 for being caught out of bed. You will have to see the Headmaster as well. Follow me, Peters."

With that, Severus quickly walked away, with Peter trailing behind him, shaking in his toes.

Lily couldn't do anything except stand there, watching him go. A single tear traced down her cheek.

0o0o0

"Professor…" James whispered, once Snape walked out, "Please, do you know who we really are?"

"Yes," Dumbledore nodded, "I do remember you, James Potter, Sirius Black, and Remus Lupin. The reason nobody else does is because some sort of Fidelius Charm was cast upon your identities. Nobody will remember you. I also realized that I am basically your Secret Keeper. Whoever I tell will know who you really are."

The three of them nodded in understanding, "So, only you know who we are?" Remus asked.

"No. I told Minerva. We are the only two."

"You mean Minnie? She still works here?" James grinned.

"Yes," Dumbledore replied.

Suddenly, they could hear Severus speaking loudly outside.

"Well, well, well, another First Year. I caught 4 Ravenclaw first years today breaking curfew. Of course, there was on Slytherin First Year as well, but you four made up for it."

James jumped out of his chair, "That's probably Lily!" he hissed, about to run towards the door, but Dumbledore stopped him.

"You will only make things worse."

They heard Lily say something too quietly that they couldn't hear, but based on Severus's response, they could easily figure out what she asked, "My name is Severus Snape. Of course _you _must call my Professor, or Professor Snape. I am the Potion's Master, and Slytherin Head. And for making me say this, 20 points from Ravenclaw, and another 30 for being caught out of bed. You will have to see the Headmaster as well. Follow me, Peters."

After a few minutes, Lily still hadn't come in.

"Please Sir, may I see if she's all right?" James begged.

"I will go," the Headmaster decided, and walked quickly outside his office.

"Will she... will she be all right?" Sirius whispered, "I mean, Severus wasn't that cold when he was in Hogwarts with us."

"I don't know how she'll react to this," James buried his head in his hands, "I really hope she'll be able to pull through this.

Before they could say any more, Lily entered the office with Dumbledore. Her face was death pale, but she didn't look like she had cried very much.

"Are you-" James began to ask, but Dumbledore cast a Silencing Charm on them.

"The three of you, sit in the chairs over there," he pointed at the comfortable looking chairs a few feet away from his desk.

The Marauders obeyed, and Dumbledore quickly cast an unidentifiable spell between the chairs and his desk.

"Would you take a seat, Lily?" he asked kindly.

Lily dropped down into the chair, not making eye contact with anybody.

"The spell I just cast was a spell that would allow us to talk without the Marauders hearing us. You do know why I did that, right?"

"Y-yes," Lily replied softly.

"Now, tell me why you never told anyone about the spell you used to pull the ball of the time stream towards Peter."

**A/N: Dun, dun, dun! So it was Lily's fault that they're stuck in Harry's time. The question is, why? I've decided to leave you with that question… I was going to write more but I'm mean. **

**So 1 review = Slap/hug for Severus. Your choice. **

**Well, hope you enjoyed this chapter… and I hope that cliffhanger will torture you for at least 1 minute. :D**

**~Owly**


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